Nigerian stocks extended gains for the 16th consecutive trading session Thursday to post its longest winning streak in more than two years due to improving sentiment following strong half-year earnings from several listed mid-sized caps. Traders are betting on good corporate half-year earnings releases and on the economy emerging from recession, as well as foreign exchange liquidity, thanks to a new currency-trading window for investors. And they were rewarded Thursday as mid-sized and large caps churned out impressive results. From FBN Holdings, Union Bank, Dangote Cement to Sterling, the half-year results were impressive, lifting the mood in the market. To this end, the bourse’s all-share index rose 1.4 percent to 37,245.17 points, further buoying the year-to-date gain to 38.6 percent, while market capitalization added N173.8 billion to close at N12.8 trillion. Rally in consumer goods and banking bellwethers - NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.7%), GUARANTY (+3.6%) and NESTLE (+5.0%) - drove the market performance Thursday. Similarly, activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 61.9 percent and 72.5 percent to close at 542.8 million units and N8.0 billion respectively. Performance across the various sectors was mixed as three of five indices closed in the green. The consumer goods and insurance indices advanced 3.8 percent and 2.2 percent respectively on account of gains in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+4.7%) and MANSARD (+4.8%).

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Investors equally reacted positively to CONTINSURE’s (+4.6%) impressive H1:2017 earnings report which was released yesterday while another Insurer, CUSTODYIN, released yet another solid half-year result with gross revenue and profit after tax rising 15.6 percent and 31.8 percent respectively year-on-year to N19.8 billion and N3.8 billion. Similarly, the banking index advanced 1.7 percent owing to the sustained rally in GUARANTY (+3.6%) and ETI (+5.0%). FBNH and STERLING also published H1: 2017 results with gross earnings rising 7.8 percent and 14.1 percent to N288.8 billion and N57.1 billion respectively. Profit after tax for FBNH declined 17.9 percent and STERLING 5.4 percent to N29.5 billion and N3.8 billion respectively. On the other hand, the oil & gas index slid 1.0 percent due to losses in OANDO (-4.8%) while the industrial goods index fell 0.5 percent due to profit taking in WAPCO (-1.7%). In line with the sustained bullish momentum, investor sentiment measured by market breadth stayed positive and advanced to 2.2x (37 advancers against 17 decliners) from 1.8x recorded Wednesday. Top gainers were CONOIL (+10.2%), CHAMPION (+6.7%) and NESTLE (+5.0%) whilst the top losers were CADBURY (-9.7%), UAC-PROP (-5.5%) and MORISON (-4.9%).